written by @erinboogie
21-year-old Zacharias Adrian Cavasos of Washington state is accused of repeatedly sexually assaulting a 12-year-old girl from Oregon for over a month after he moved into her room and hid under her bed and in her closet to avoid detection. The girl lives with her grandfather.
Cavasos first made contact with the girl back in December via social media and in February he convinced her to meet him at the Wildhorse Resort and Casino. Cavasos then snuck into the girl’s room on February 10 and remained hidden until he was caught by the girl’s grandfather on February 25 and he was asked to leave. He later returned to the girl’s room where he lived in a spot he created under her bed by removing some of the slats that held her mattress and sometimes he hid in her closet.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Jennifer Martin argued to keep Cavasos locked up citing his lack of ties to the community, no job, and the fact that he returned to the girl’s room after he was initially discovered back in February, but a judge released the 21-year-old to a clean-and-sober house under GPS monitoring and curfew. Cavasos defense attorney, Thomas Price, believes he may have an intellectual disability.
“When I started reading the nature of the allegations, I really was quite surprised by what I read, I have never been aware of anyone alleged to have been living in a 12-year-old’s bedroom for a month,” said Judge Youlee Yim You.
Cavasos later admitted to investigators that he had sex with the 12-year-old girl on multiple occasions and is now charged with the abuse of a minor in the U.S. District Court in Portland. According to prosecutors, the charges were filed on the federal level because the crime took place on the Umatilla Indian Reservation.
According to Price, Cavasos has no prior criminal record and the allegations didn’t contend Cavasos was violent.
